Survey Suggests Mainers’ Economic Outlook Bleak
Posted by jcashman
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — As the Christmas shopping season dawns, a new survey shows Maine consumers’ outlook is pessimistic.
The survey by Market Decisions of Portland shows consumer sentiment and longer-term perceptions of the national economy have fallen. Now, 65 percent polled expect the national economy to be worse in five years.
Forty-four percent of Maine residents say it’s a bad time to make a major purchase. That’s well below the peak of 63 percent in October 2008, but the percentage is virtually unchanged over two and a half years.
Market Decisions President Curtis Mildner says survey results suggest that perceptions of the future economy are a drag on perceptions of the current economy.
The phone survey of 400 Mainers was conducted Oct. 5 -25 and has an error margin of 5 percent.
Maine housing market shows positive signs
Maine’s housing market continues to show signs of improvement with a nearly 7 percent increase in sales of single-family homes last month when compared to the year-ago period.
The Maine Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that there were 945 home sold last month, compared to 885 in October 2010.
The group also noted that median prices declined by nearly 1 percent to $165,000.
Association President Mike LePage says the majority of Maine’s counties showed significant gains. Somerset County had a more than 38 percent gain in sales in the rolling quarter compared to the same period last year, while the median sales price rose almost 40 percent.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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Posted by jcashman
on Nov 23 2011. Filed under Business, Featured - For home page featured article.
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